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| Thomas Dooley and Phil Younghusband are looking forward in facing Bahrain for the fourth time in the last two years. |
MANILA-- Philippines manager Thomas Dooley and captain Phil Younghusband looked forward to tomorrow's friendly with Bahrain after talking to the media earlier in the morning at the Century Park Hotel.
With Bahrain's gaffer Miroslav Soukup skipping the pre-match press conference to prepare for Friday night's game, both Dooley and Younghusband thanked them for coming and they are looking forward to meet the fans on the first home match since they won their final World Cup Qualifier last March.
Dooley downplayed the absence of Stephan Palla and Daisuke Sato for this friendly, added that the matches played a huge role in the build-up to the ASEAN Championship next month.
"I've told my players that there are no friendly games. It's always a fight against another nation. You're fighting for money, for sponsorships, for spectators and for TV, for everything," the former United States defender stressed the worth of these matches as the expectations were high for the 125th-ranked Azkals, who will play their West Asian counterpart for the fourth time in the last two years.
Younghusband echoed Dooley's statement, added that they need the confidence for the Suzuki Cup when they get good results in those two friendlies.
The former Bundesliga veteran does not mind about being bored when facing the West Asians once again. "Like I said before, I want to play against good, strong teams, and I don't care playing ten times against North Korea, or Japan, or China, because we can learn from those teams. We have to fight and put it on the plate to win the game. that's the games that I wanna play," Dooley concluded.
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With Bahrain's gaffer Miroslav Soukup skipping the pre-match press conference to prepare for Friday night's game, both Dooley and Younghusband thanked them for coming and they are looking forward to meet the fans on the first home match since they won their final World Cup Qualifier last March.
Dooley downplayed the absence of Stephan Palla and Daisuke Sato for this friendly, added that the matches played a huge role in the build-up to the ASEAN Championship next month.
"I've told my players that there are no friendly games. It's always a fight against another nation. You're fighting for money, for sponsorships, for spectators and for TV, for everything," the former United States defender stressed the worth of these matches as the expectations were high for the 125th-ranked Azkals, who will play their West Asian counterpart for the fourth time in the last two years.
Younghusband echoed Dooley's statement, added that they need the confidence for the Suzuki Cup when they get good results in those two friendlies.
The former Bundesliga veteran does not mind about being bored when facing the West Asians once again. "Like I said before, I want to play against good, strong teams, and I don't care playing ten times against North Korea, or Japan, or China, because we can learn from those teams. We have to fight and put it on the plate to win the game. that's the games that I wanna play," Dooley concluded.
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